I bought an automotive camera (can post a link to the specific model if this is relevant but it shouldn't be), which is supposed to act as either a rear-view camera or a dash cam. It writes to a memory card, but also has an RCA output cable.
My car does not have a screen of any kind that I could hook the RCA cable up to. This doesn't matter because I only want to use the camera as a dash cam. However, if the camera detects that the RCA cable is not hooked up, it automatically shuts off after about 5 seconds.
So my question: is there a simple (and preferably reversible) way to fool the camera into thinking the cable is hooked up? I'm considering simply using a bit of aluminum foil to short out the RCA cable. Would that do the trick? Might it damage the camera? Unfortunately, I just don't know enough about RCA.
Best Answer
NOTE: This was a project to see how inexpensively I can hook up a dash cam. The camera itself was very inexpensive, and I did not mind damaging it in the search for the cheapest solution. Caveat emptor!
THE ANSWER: Before investing in a resistor (see discussion in comments of my question), I tried the simple expedient of shorting the jack out with a piece of foil. I figured that the risk was low as I read elsewhere that RCA video has low voltage and current. This worked! The camera no longer shuts off automatically.